Good morning. Markets opened relatively flat this morning … which, based on recent volatility, I’ll take as a positive. Still, as we all learned over the last few months, just one statement from Washington … can move markets quickly … in either direction … something we have uncomfortably gotten used to of late. Economic uncertainly rules the roost at the moment as it just crossed the wires that home sales in March fell 5.9% even as AEI Housing reported a sharp increase in active listings over the past year. But, of course, mortgage rates and economic uncertainty come into play as buyers become hesitant to make any move. My, how times have changed … as it was only a short while ago that the complaint was over limited inventory which no longer seems to be the main issue. There is one other interesting item brought up by National Association of Realtors (“NAR”) and that is a type of home seeing a sharp increase is one set up to be “multi-generational” … but I saw no mention if this is because of kids staying at home longer … or middle-aged adults are preparing to care for aging parents (for who the heck can afford a nursing facility nowadays?). This leads me to another topic and one for which I applaud the present administration. It has long been realized we are running into a population problem, as the percentage of older Americans keeps getting higher. The “replenishment rate” (the number of children a family should have to keep population steady) is around 2.1 … but this has dropped to an astounding 1.67. While the Trump administration is suggesting giving a stipend to women having children, this might not go far enough (as childcare and other costs are insane) … and some might just spend the money on things other than the child … but they are on the right track in addressing this. Another item in the news has to do with the air we breath … as an article below informs that air pollution is causing harm to as many of half of us. But while the world recognizes the importance of reducing pollution, we still have a China problem … as their coal production continues to increase … for pollution doesn’t stop at a border … and one country’s problem becomes everyone’s problem. That will wrap it up for today as you notice I did not mention tariffs … as I am on “tariff overload” and taking a break from reading about them for a few hours. On a final note, there is still talk of the U.S. wanting to take over Greenland … a story which I saw on the same website that mentioned Proctor & Gamble warning about a price increase for Tide laundry detergent. Combining the stories made me realize something. Do you know why people from Greenland do their laundry in Tide? Because they find it too cold to do it out-tide. Have a great day, Joseph G. Witthohn, CFA Have any questions? Please contact info@teamemerald.com
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